ABSTRACT
Nineteenth-century descriptions of Victorian British zoological gardens and menageries are remarkable for their multiple accounts depicting the public's eagerness to reach through the bars or wire mesh of cages so as to be able to touch or "caress" the enclosed creatures. Desiring to stroke, pat, embrace, and fondle these exotic animals, children and adults introduced their hands into the dens so as to sense the animal's hide brushing up against their fingers or to feel the lick of the creature's tongue. A photograph taken around the same time shows a child's hand nuzzling a rhinoceros, and in yet another picture, a woman bends down so that she might put her fingers through the beaver's enclosure and stroke the creature's fur. Within the context of the zoo, there were additional opportunities for touching when keepers took young lions, tigers, and apes for walks through the zoo grounds so that children could pet and play with them.
